Gen 11:9 (Babel part 1) a babel fish and a beautiful bride

Gen 11:9   [the tower/city] was called Babel, because there the LORD confused the language of all the earth. And from there the LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth. (ESV)

Hope these blogs aren't getting too long. I'm really enjoying writing them. It's such a great way to meditate on God's word. Not as intense and scary as preparing for a preach, but more focused than simply reading the bible and thinking about it in my head.

Now it's time to see why I struggled with French at school. How much easier it would have been to put Douglas Adam's fictitious "babel fish" in my ear than learn page after page of French verb endings.

It turns out that languages were a spanner that God purposely threw into the workings of human culture and communication to make it difficult for people to work with one another. You see, instead of spreading out across the earth people had gathered in one place and built a tower to demonstrate their power and strength.  God steps in and fractures their common language shattering and scattering humanity into the nations. Even since then empires have risen covering vast regions of the world, progress has been made with ever greater technical and architectural achievements but sooner or later arrows, bullets or bombs have rained down and the sun has set over another "great kingdom" and risen on another.

While the world is still thick with conflict, as I write, nations and culture are being redeemed through the glorious gospel of Jesus, God's only son. People of difference races, colours, languages and likes are being painstakingly pieced together into one new humanity, one new man in Christ. A new eternal kingdom is growing up among the flowering and fading of the others. Hearts and minds are being joined across the fractured boundaries of a thousand tongues and for those with eyes to see it is glorious! Just as the redeemed relationship between God and man is better by far and unimaginably more glorious than before the fall, so the rejoining of nations is infinitely richer and more radiantly colourful than the homogeneous humanity that built an ill-conceived tower to the heavens.

When the sickness is healed in culture and evil eradicated, when different people groups are intertwined and united together in Christ, the result will be a bride of dazzling, jaw dropping beauty befitting her perfect groom. Jesus you are amazing. Your gospel is so much more than fixing me and making me presentable at your table. The Spirit and the bride say come! 

Does this have any practical implications for me apart from awe and worship? The fact that difference and diversity are united in the gospel to the glory of God means that I should seek to reach out to people from different nationalities, languages and dialects, build a church that reflects something of the cultural richness around me, and not be phased if God transplants me from my own culture to another. Closer to home it means that I can delight in the fact that my wife and I are different, and know and celebrate a unity that God has wrought in us. Tomorrow we celebrate 11 years of marriage. I can still see the moment in my mind when my beautiful bride came in to sight and walked down the aisle towards me. My eyes never left her for a second. God's plan for unity in diversity is truly glorious!

 Il adviendra en ce jour-là que le descendant d'Isaï
se dressera comme un étendard pour les peuples,
et toutes les nations se tourneront vers lui.
Et le lieu où il se tiendra resplendira de gloire Isaiah 11:10

Or as babelfish.yahoo.com automatically translates it from French to English:

It will occur in this day that the descendant d' Isaï will draw up itself like a standard for the people, and all the nations will turn to him. And the place where it will be held will resplendira of glory Isaiah 11:10

That place that will be a "resplendira of glory" is the church!

Gen 9:20-21 "I'm cold and I am shamed lying naked on the floor"

Gen 9:20-21   Noah began to be a man of the soil, and he planted a vineyard. He drank of the wine and became drunk and lay uncovered in his tent. (ESV)

Noah plants a vineyard, drinks its wine, gets drunk and lies naked in his tent. Ham, one of his sons sees him and tells his two brothers. They carefully walk backwards into the tent carrying a blanket and  without ever looking at their father they manage to cover him up. When Noah wakes and finds out what had happened he curses Ham's son Canaan. The first question that occurs to me after reading this story is why was it bad for the brothers to see their fathers nakedness? 

The best explanation I can think of is that there was something shameful about being naked or seen naked. This seems hard to understand now in a culture that worships the naked body. We have magazines, beaches and web pages full of nakedness. We have programs on TV with titles such as "how to look good naked" where publically stripping off is seen as a sign of liberation and empowerment. When Adam and Eve realised they were naked, God clothed them, so post fall nakedness seems to be connected in the bible with guilt and shame (Gen 2:25, Gen 3:7-10, Ex 20:26, *). Exposing your naked body to others might, in some circumstances, be a mistaken declaration of having "no shame". Sometimes we flaunt "old fashioned" rules, or take delight in shocking "prudishness" as it can seem like there in no substance to them. I am reminded of Beatrix Potter's Squirrel Nutkin. Here is a summary of the story from Wikipedia:

Squirrel Nutkin, his brother Twinkleberry, and their many cousins sail to Owl Island on little rafts they have constructed of twigs. They offer resident owl Old Brown a gift and ask his permission to do their nut-collecting on his island. Nutkin however dances about impertinently singing a silly riddle. Old Brown pays no attention to Nutkin, but permits the squirrels to go about their work. Every day for six days, the squirrels offer gifts to Old Brown, and every day as well, Nutkin taunts the owl with another sing-song riddle. Eventually, Nutkin annoys Old Brown once too often. The owl seizes Nutkin and tries to skin him alive. Nutkin escapes, but not without losing most of his tail.

   

Like squirrel Nutkin we can spend our lives flouting God's law and thinking we will get away with it. How silly of those other squirrels to bow to him, asking his permission so meekly and thanking him so politely. He's just standing there doing nothing. Does he see? Is he awake? Even alive? But the bible says there will be a day when God moves in decisive action to judge the world and there will be no escape.

But back to nakedness. While it seems to me that this passage and others should warn us about modesty when it comes to our bodies, we must be very careful here because the bible never says that the human body is bad. This is the other extreme where people are made to feel bad about their bodies. Ironically I suspect that the more people are exposed to "perfected" images of nakedness in the media the worse they will feel about their own body. Problems with food and dieting, cosmetic surgery, and depression are all too common these days. (There is of course a strong link between our bodies and us, we do not live inside our bodies, rather they are part of us, Issues about how we look are often more than skin deep. When someone criticises our body it's not surprising that we feel it deeply).

The truth is that God made our bodies and they are good. He wanted to express his image in flesh and bones. We are his workmanship, and his "hands" formed our bodies like clay. That is such an intimate picture, a potter with his hands shaping the clay on a wheel, or holding it in his palm and pressing his thumb into it. So our bodies are good, and in the context of marriage the bible encourages, even commands, a husband and wife to delight in each other's bodies (Prov 5:19, Song 4:5, ). Robert Alter in "The Song of Songs: The World’s First Great Love Poem" says that the Song of Songs in the bible “celebrates the body as few other poems, ancient or modern, have done,” without reducing love to the purely physical.

“though love manifests itself in bodily impulse, it is also conceived here as an abiding force that transcends the body, a force that cannot be bribed, bought, extorted, deflected by public censure, or prompted to exert its power before it is ripe."

Again, the link between the physical, spiritual and emotional is an intimate one. I might try to get his book at some point as it sounds great. Anyway, outside of marriage it seems, we are, wherever possible, to respectfully cover ourselves and one another.

A couple of other question are still in my mind though. First why didn't Noah get blamed for getting drunk. Secondly why did Ham's son get cursed and not Ham? While wine is not bad in itself and in fact is viewed very positively in the bible (Ps 104:15, num 15:5-10, Deut 14:26, Is 5:1-7, Mk 12:1-11) drunkenness is roundly condemned (Num 6:3-4, Lev 10:9, Prov 21:17, Prov 23:20-21, Prov 23:29-35, Is 5:22). The link between drunkenness and nakedness is also well attested inside the bible (Hab 2:15, Lam 4:21) and out. How come this formerly blameless man ended up laying naked in a drunken stupor on the floor?  Maybe he didn't mean to or maybe he was in the wrong but that was not the focus or point of the story. As for why the son is cursed, the bible does indicate that children sometimes suffer the consequences of their parents actions but it remains a mystery to me as to why and how Canaan suffered because of his father's sin.  

One final thing to mention on this passage which is perhaps the saddest thing of all. Canaan's curse has been used in the past as a justification for slavery. I don't think that holds water for a number of reasons, one of which is that we don't embrace and run with the curses, rather in Christ we see them lifted. Otherwise we would make sure work was as hard as possible and child birth was as painful as possible.

Oh, another final thing. In fact the final word on the matter and I suspect a key point of the whole story.  (This only occurred to me a day later). God covered Adam and Eve's shame with animal skins and he covers ours by the blood of his son. I have done things that I am ashamed of not just before other people but before God. Some people get those dreams (can't remember if I have had one, honest) where they turn up for work and discover that they have no clothes on. The shame and embarrassment is enough to wake you up in a cold sweat. Well, metaphorically, that was me. One day I realised my nakedness and shame. My sin was exposed before the perfect, Holy God of the universe and instead of condemning me, instead of looking at my sin and exposing me, telling everyone what he had seen, he lovingly put a robe over me and covered my shame. Thank you Jesus. Thank you Jesus.    

* You know sometimes you come across a verse that you never remember reading in the bible before. Well here's one for when you go camping. Deut 23:12-14. Euew.

Gen 9:13 Somewhere over the Rainbow

Gen 9:13   I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. (ESV)

Over 5 million people tuned in last week to watch "Over the rainbow", Andrew Lloyd Webbers talent contest to find a Dorothy for his new musical. Frank Baum's story of the Wizard of Oz, is as rich in imagery and meaning as any fairy tale.  Some see it as a commentary on 19th century economics, others have claimed it as an atheistic manifesto, while some see Dorothy on a golden path to enlightenment. Have a read of these lyrics:

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There's a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I'll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That's where you'll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can't I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can't I?

Dorothy is an orphan, living with her Uncle and Aunt in the middle of an empty prairie. What happened to her parents we don't know. Instead of being explicit in the exact nature of her pain and sadness the story focuses on the plight of her dog Toto who is terrorised by a neighbour. Children learn about suffering and caring and loss and love through pets. Like many people, in the mists of loneliness, dispair, trouble, pain, or suffering she longs for a place where these things are gone. Something deep in her soul tells here there is such a place. There must be such a place. But where is it and how to get there?

It's tempting to try to make the story fit the gospel but I fear that would be impossible, like banging a square peg into a round hole (or mapping a sphere onto a doughnut if you're into topology). There is a narrow road, a battle of good and evil, an Emerald city, a new heart, a renewed mind, and an impartation of courage but there is no sin and no cross in the story. Like Dorothy in the poppy field the main message could leave you in a spiritual daze, susceptible to delusion and delay.

Dorothy is innocent. It's part of the charm of the story but we are not. We have been bad neigbours, we have hurt others. However much we want to cast ourselves as the heroes or heroine, we are the bad guys and if our story unfolds like most fairy tales we won't be the ones living happily ever after. The wicked witch, the big bad wolf, the troll under the bridge all meet sticky ends for the things they did. That's justice and we recognise its truth even if we think we will escape it. 

When we meet God at the end of our lives it will not be as in Oz where an old muddled man steps out from behind a lot of smoke and puppetry, rather our tame, manmade images of a bumbling prudish weak God will be shattered as we come face to face with the glorious mighty King of heaven. The way to the place where troubles melt like lemon drops is not through wishing on a star or along some spiritual journey, but trusting in his son Jesus. He is the hero of the story, the good guy, who died for us taking on himself our just desserts, and giving us his happy ever after.

Anyway, I'd better comment on the verse rather than just using the obvious link to the wizard of Oz story. Rainbows are beautiful things, and more than perhaps any other natural phenomena (I haven't seen the northern lights so can't judge) have a transcendent quality to them. Their colourful arch towering over the land like the entrance to a heavenly theme park. This verse tells us that a rainbow is indeed a sign. It's a sign that God links with his promise never to bring such judgement again by a flood. It's a sign of grace and mercy to Noah and all his descendents. Like a massive multicoloured wedding ring around the earth it's a sign of promise. But it's also a reminder of judgment. God is a god of justice and there was a time when his wrath was poured out and while judgement will not come by water it will come again by fire when Jesus comes back.

Matt 24:36-40   "But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, nor the Son, but the Father only. For as were the days of Noah, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. For as in those days before the flood they were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, until the day when Noah entered the ark, and they were unaware until the flood came and swept them all away, so will be the coming of the Son of Man. Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and one left. (ESV)

It's also a glimpse into heaven and the glory of God. Ezekiel had a vision of God surrounded by wonderful wheels and winged creatures.  Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking. (ESV) Ez 1:28 In John's vision he saw a rainbow surrounding the throne in heaven Rev 4:3 and  an angel with a rainbow above his head. Rev 10:1. God loves colour and if you will allow me a flight of fancy, I can imagine that there was an "ooo" in heaven when he said "let there be light" but a more amazed "ahhh" as it was split into all the colours of the rainbow. Let me finish with the lyrics from the Jesus culture song I am listening to at the moment "Revelation song":

Clothed in rainbows, of living colour
Flashes of lightning, rolls of thunder
Blessing and honour, strength and
Glory and power be
To You the Only Wise King

Gen 9:3 Noah's first burger

Gen 9:3   Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. (ESV)

Up till this point men had only eaten vegetables. Can you imagine Abel sacrificing his sheep or whatever it was, with all that wonderful aroma filling the air, and not being able to eat it! He must have been tempted! Anyway, it was already ok to kill animals and at last it's ok to eat them! God has given animals to us for food. No one has to eat them or be made to feel bad because they don't (Rom 14:2), and we must be careful to treat animals well (Prov 12:10), but this verse helpfully and clearly puts meat on the menu.

Obviously Noah had or was given some idea of what clean and unclean animals were. God spelled it out again later in Lev 11:46-47 and Deut 14:4-8. It all seems a bit arbitrary (unless there is something intrinsically more healthy in eating clean animals) until Peter gets the explanation in Acts 10:15. In a vision he is shown unclean animals and told to "kill and eat". When, as a good Jew he protests, God says "do not call anything impure that God has made clean". No sooner has the vision ended than there is a knock at the door and Peter is invited to come to a Gentiles house where he shares the gospel. The main reason for the food laws therefore seems to be that God wanted to use what people ate to illustrate the specialness of his people. Some meat is acceptable and some is not. Some people are accepted and some are not. Now, in the NT, through the gospel the cocoon of God's people Israel bursts open and out comes the church, a multicoloured, multinational, holy nation of special people.

It may have been Peter who looked back at Jesus' statement about "Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him?" Mark 7:18  and commented "Thus he declared all foods clean." Mark 7:19.

God's people remembered the Passover by eating a lamb. It helped look back to the time when it's blood had kept them safe from the avenging angel in Egypt. Meat also played a central part in the sacrificial system, as much of the time parts of the animals were eaten (Lev 7:15, 22:29-30. (God's people were also promised a land flowing with milk and honey.) Then along came Jesus, the Lamb of God, who said "whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life. For my flesh is real food and my blood real drink" (John 6:54-55). The symbols and illustrations, the lambs, the manna, the bread have done their job and lead us to the real deal. Jesus. As we come to him we enter into a relationship far deeper and intimate even than we have with our food. Jesus still wants us to keep the symbols in communion where we eat bread and drink wine to remember him, as it helps us feast on him. And one day those who enjoyed this intimate relationship with him on earth will feast at the wedding supper of the lamb and enjoy a new heaven and earth (Rev 19:9) . If the imagery that the bible uses is anything to go by the food is going to be amazing!   

What is my attitude to food? Philip 3:19 says my stomach can become to me like a god, drawing my attention and energy and worship in a way that only God should. Sometimes I wonder at how persuasively food can promise to fill a hole that isn't in my stomach. Fasting can help dissolve this gastric god giving me a clearer view of the real one and helping me feast on him. If my stomach sometimes craves a bit of chocolate, how much more my soul the living God. The bible says "Taste and see that the Lord is good". I want to do that more!

Eating with a thankful heart is also a good way to honour God with my food (1 Tim 4:1-5). I do sometimes say "grace" at meals (and the children love a great singing version "so here we are together, together, together, there's [youngest person] and ... and ...[oldest person], thank God for our food. Amen") but that can be an empty gesture if it doesn't come from or result in a thankful heart. Next time I eat I will check my heart and encourage it to be thankful.

Interesting to note how feasting and fasting have their twisted counterfeits in overeating and under eating. When we eat without reference to God it's like a ship without ballast. The whole thing can become rather unstable. We were made to eat with God, and though it is strange to say we were made to "eat God". No wonder Jesus' disciples said "this is hard teaching, who can accept it" (John 6:60). Of course it's not meant to be taken literally but its true meaning is no less shocking or offensive or amazing. Please God teach me more how to feast on you.

I guess one aspect of that is reading, and meditating on and studying his Word. There are so many programs about food on TV right now. At the moment the food aspect is cleverly blended with a reality TV source. It's amazing how interesting food can be. It just occurred to me that just as a chef's job is to serve up  food in a way that excites and delivers, bringing out authentic flavours and contrasting tastes and textures, so those that preach or share God's word, or the gospel need to make sure that it is served up well. Of course we are reliant on the Holy Spirit to open the hearts of our hearers, but he is also at work in us in our preparation. Surely he will move us to great efforts, passions, creativity and skill in handling his word.     

I could talk about worship and other stuff in the context of feeding on Jesus, or obedience (John 4:35) but this blog is far too long already and I wanted to do other stuff this evening. Just goes to show how interesting and significant food is.

I have also just realised that in my meandering thoughts I have not addressed a question that first occurred to me on reading this verse. Why is it now ok to eat the animals? Why not before? My guess is it's to draw our attention to the process of eating flesh that would be fulfilled in Jesus but I can't find anything to back that up. For now then, I am left with a desire to have not just a full stomach but a full soul. A conviction not to serve up gospel gruel or putrid preaches but to be a Michelin star chef of God's word, letting people taste and see the goodness of God. Thank you Jesus that you gave yourself up for me. Thank you that we will eat with you in paradise.      

Gen 8:20-21 A sheep discovers the shocking truth

 Gen 8:20-21   Then Noah built an altar to the LORD and took some of every clean animal and some of every clean bird and offered burnt offerings on the altar. And when the LORD smelled the pleasing aroma, the LORD said in his heart, "I will never again curse the ground because of man, for the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth. Neither will I ever again strike down every living creature as I have done. (ESV)

I have been looking at perhaps the most well known and vivid story in the entire bible; Noah's ark. Having given some thought to the challenges this story raises in my mind I want to explore its meaning a bit more and see what God is saying to me through it. I think I will skip forward to when the waters recede and Noah steps out.

It must have been a really eerie scene, like some massive disaster movie. Everything destroyed, dead. The soft ground covered in debris. But as the animals come out Noah does a strange thing. He doesn’t kiss the ground like the Pope when his plane touches down in a new country, instead he begins to build an altar.

Try and imagine it from the sheep's point of view. As luck would have it you turned out to be in the category of clean animals so 7 pairs of you were picked increasing your chances and by some 1 in a million chance, you were picked to go in the ark and be saved from the flood. It's like discovering you have a winning lottery ticket. You’ve been cooped up on a boat for a year, contemplating your good fortune. You're let off the ark, squinting in the sunlight, and you are about to go forth and multiply when you see Noah building something. “what is he doing with those stones? Oh no, you have got to be joking!!!”

Sheep feature pretty highly in the bible where they are mentioned almost 200 times. God's people are described as sheep and Jesus of course is the Lamb of God. Each sheep sacrificed  pointed to the once and for all sacrifice provided by God's son and as the smoke from Noah's altar wafted up to God it pleased him. Apparently the part of the brain responsible for smells is very deep in the brain. That's why it triggers vivid memories of long forgotton times. Well this smell must have brought Jesus' future sacrifice to mind and cause God to promise to hold back his wrath on this scale even in the face of the greatest provocation. The next time God's wrath would cover the earth it would be as fire, and all those in Christ will be saved.